Super-Duper Study Guides

I love teachers! They truly are unsung heroes. Education is so important. It is shaping our future. Whether you have children or not, you have to care about education. Because like it or not, it molds your future too, or at least those who will be in control of your future at some point. All of this leads me to study guides.

I have noticed lately that some of the books I’ve been reading have study guides or discussion points in back. I think this is awesome! It’s a way for authors to reach out to teachers and try to bring current, relevant books into the classroom. Teachers, it’s a way to entice those kids to read. If it’s something that they can feel more connected to, they are more likely to want to read it. It helps to guide discussion in meaningful ways that can count for some educational requirements too.

I think authors should put something on the front or at the very least, back cover to alert educators and everyone that there is a study guide within. I know I’ve gotten to the back of the book to discover the study guide and think, “wow, I had no idea that was there”. Had I known sooner, maybe I could have recommended a book to my son’s class, etc. for reading earlier on. Huge kudos to bringing recent literature in to the classrooms.

Two-fer Review-fer You

When It Happens and Shiver


I decided to couple the review of these two books together. They do have similarities. They have distinct differences as well. I’ll cover both in my review. Let’s delve right in.

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti is a story of first loves. Sara is in her senior year of high school and wants to get into the college she been planning on attending forever, and to find true love. She thinks that true love lies in Dave, a jock striving to hang with the popular crowd. Tobey is also a senior, he wants to win Battle of the Bands and for Sara to fall in love with him. It’s interesting that sometimes we want the very thing that is wrong for us. It’s Tobey, not Dave who understands Sara. He gets all the little things about her and they have tons of things in common. Will Sara allow herself to fall for the slacker musician? True love comes in the most unexpected packages sometimes. Both Shiver and When It Happens are stories of first love. They both have alternating points of view in different chapters. One difference in When It Happens is that the chapters were in different font depending whose point of view the chapter was written in. This book was lovely and both Sara and Tobey taste in music was fabulous. They would mention songs, groups, etc. and it would really take me back. It might be a neat reference for kids today, but it took me back because I’m old. ;) Okay, I’m not ancient but I’m getting up there. I felt like Tobey was definitely more of a dudes dude. I also loved the fact that despite their similarities, they each were their own distinct person and had interests outside of one another. It was really a great read and I highly recommend it.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is also a story of first loves. Grace has watched the wolves in the woods surrounding her house for many years now. When she was younger she was attacked by a pack of wolves and remembers a yellow-eyed wolf who goes against the pack and saves her. Ever since, she feels connected to this particular wolf and he becomes ‘her wolf’. The wolves are there in the winter but mysteriously gone through summers. Grace longs for her wolf through summers.

She meets a boy, Sam Roth with the same familiar yellow eyes. Her wolf is Sam, who takes human form in the summer and is a wolf in the winter months. Will it be possible to actually have any kind of life with Sam? Sam has loved Grace from afar so long now and he’s determined to share his last weeks of being human with Grace in as normal a fashion as possible. Will he shun the pack in favor of his love for Grace? Will they have more than a handful of weeks to spend together? This is an enthralling story of love and its restorative power on the human spirit.

I wasn’t so sure that I was going to be into this book. I’m glad I gave it an opportunity. I loved the fact that it delved into Sam’s past dealings with abuse, his feelings about being human and being a wolf. It wasn’t just a love story that remained on the surface, it plunged deeper than that and held my interest right up to the end. I can’t wait for Linger now.

This book was also told in alternating points of view between Sam and Grace. Each chapter was labeled with whose point of view that chapter was told in. I loved that because it let me know what frame of mind to be in as I started reading. I felt the different characters were believable and likable enough. I also found myself quite worried about the temperature. ;) Highly recommended read.

Immortal Fairy

I decided to add another poem. However, this is one I wrote quite a few years back. Hope everyone enjoys it. Leave me a note and let me know what ya' think.

Immortal Fairy



On golden wings of light she rides

A beautiful creature to behold.

But cross her not

For no greater terror shall a man ever know

Than to anger the fairy of loves immortal throes.

She surveys her kingdom from clouds on high

Reaching dizzying heights.

She bestows upon those who choose to believe

Ardent days and fevered nights.

The fairy, she loves to share her gifts

For her kingdom she wants to grow

Wishing all of mankind could reside in this land evermore.

Yet we mere mortals take for granted, as we often do

The gifts given us by the fairy and it all begins to undo.

She tosses her head, her smile fades, her wings become more amber.

She is upset we’ve become mired in the details of daily life

We forgot the important things, and love begins to wander.

She sits on her throne, no longer pleased, crying tears of ice.

We simple people must appease the fairy and try to do what’s right.

Do not fret over daily details, strive to live in love’s light

And I'd Like to Thank...

I must be doing something right, I've received the 'Sweet Blog' award twice in as many days.

I'd like to thank the following fellow bloggers:

• Office Girl at Tired But Writing who always has an interesting take on things that either has me laughing out loud or nodding my head in agreement, sometimes both. Bop by her blog when you have a moment.

• Nicole Ducleroir at One Significant Moment at a Time who totally understands the importance of banding together through the crazy purging of the personalities within us that we do, called writing. I'm always happy to offer help Nicole and know that I too will need it sometime. Drop by her blog and offer support and let her know we all trudge these paths together.

Thanks ladies for the lovely awards.  And now, to pass it on. I gratefully give this Sweet Blog award to the following fellow writers, bloggers, all around great people:

Shawna Weeks at The Forever Blog 

TK Richardson at My Writing Masquerade

Jemi Fraser at Just Jemi

Cate Woods at Words from the Woods

Enjoy this adorable little bear and pass him along on his way as you see fit.

And Yet...

In honor of National Poetry Month I thought I would post one of my own. Hope you enjoy.


And Yet...


There’s a sharp intake of breath when I see that you are there.

I try to keep my eyes avoiding yours.

I can’t be caught looking at you.

Your supple lips set just right.

Your chiseled jaw and those eyes,

those eyes you could just evaporate in.

If our eyes meet, will others know or begin to speculate?

Will they see the familiarity there?

Or will they just assume we have an affable friendship?

We have crossed a line.

A line that, like watercolors became faint and blurred.

The colors muted and melded to create something unrecognizable.

Something that once could have been a line, but is no more.

The kiss.

The kiss did it.

The kiss that was so full of passion,

so verboten and rife with pleasure.

I crushed under you with my hands entangled in your mane.

My back against the wall.

The wall so hard and ungiving, unlike you.

Breathless, upon its completion,

not realizing that a kiss could once again make me feel so much.

And yet, here we are, pretending to be virtual strangers.

I have shared your breath and tasted your blood.

And yet, here we are…

The Hunger Games

I just finished reading Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. If you guys know me at all, I’m always the last to jump on the bandwagon of anything. I kept thinking, ‘I don’t want to read a book about kids forced to kill one another in some twisted appalling game’. Everyone kept telling me to just read it, it truly wasn’t focused on that, etc. So I finally gave in, threw caution to the wind and read it. And let me just say, they were right.

Hunger Games, as I’m sure you all already know, was fabulous. I like strong female characters but don’t really go for the whole ‘girl-power’ deal. Truly I think girls have had a lot pushed their way for decades now and I’m a smidge disappointed at the way males (stupid, inept and talked down to) are portrayed in everyday media today. Okay, can someone come help me down off of my soapbox; my knees aren’t what they used to be. Oh, thanks, where was I? Ah yes, I loved Katniss. Her power and intelligence really speak to girls today, I believe. She not only had physical prowess but an intellect than carried her through. I also loved the message that it’s not about your social standing in life or maybe the book smarts that you’ve acquired over time but so much more than that.

The love story deftly woven within was amazing. I’m so looking forward to going on in the series. Will it be Peeta or Gale? Either sound like enviable suitors for a young lady. I’m kinda on the fence about who I’m rooting for. I want to see what Catching Fire offers up in the way of information about both of the guys. Especially now that we’re back in District 12. Maybe I can decide where my allegiance lies among its pages.

Ms. Collins kept my on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t get through the pages fast enough. The suspense was epic. She did a fabulous job making you want to move through the story. The imagery was so vivid, the reader could really feel a part of the story. I personally liked the fact that I knew Katniss came from coal mining territory and the Capitol was in the Rocky Mountains. Living in Colorado it gave me a real feel for their surroundings.

I don’t think anyone needs me to tell them this book was terrific or to recommend it. It was and I do, just in case.

Doing the Right Thing

The other day I did the grocery shopping. My son came along and helped, generally not something he has a choice in. By the time we were done I was about worn out and my patience was wearing thin. It had been a long day and my sweet son had spent a fair amount of time warming one of the benches in the pharmacy area.


I was placing my cart in the cart return, something I’m rather obsessive about. I start to walk away but turn back to see a little old man putting his groceries in his car. He’s bent over to the point that his upper torso is parallel to the ground. I went over and grabbed a heavy box, not knowing my 13 year old was behind me. He took the box from me and asked the man where he would like it put, placing it there for him. We continued doing this until the remainder of his groceries was safely stowed away in his trunk. Once we were done the man turned his face up to my son and I, he smiled and said, “Thank you both so much.” I squeezed his hand and said, “Happy Easter”. As I went back to my car, the woman who had been watching all of this from her car in front of his wouldn’t meet my eyes. I did see her dab at the corners of hers though.

I was so glad that I got to see that man’s smile, and that my son was there to be a part of that small act of humanity. It’s so important that we don’t forget to help each other, to help those bearing the weight of a burden to stand tall, even if it be in some small way. Happy Easter!